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Prasada was a valiant leader

Jitendra Prasadji's tragic passing away is a loss not only to the Congress, but all those who cherish values embodied in a politician of great determination.

He was a senior Congress leader who inspired loyalty among some party members, while others thought he was foolhardy in contesting the party chief's election against Madame Sonia Gandhi.

That he did contest and was virtually trounced by an overwhelming margin (the Congress chief got more than 7000 votes and Prasada barely a 100) was a fact that he accepted with rare political maturity, quickly reconciling to the axiom that our party chief is undisputed leader and has no challengers.

This is a rare quality in a leader who was intrepid enough to challenge our party chief, who has no peers. But instead of the canard being spread by the Bharatiya Janata Party and the forces of Hindutva, Prasada's contesting the presidential election went a long way in symbolising that intra-party democracy is alive and kicking in our party, in sharp contrast to the BJP.

It is rare for a leader to quickly realise the ground realities and reconcile to the fact that he had taken on a Congress titan. His defeat did not embitter him. Instead, he took the outcome of the presidential polls sportingly and that underscored that Prasadji was fair-minded.

It is also a measure of our party president's broad-mindedness that she bore no ill-will against Prasada for contesting against her. Indeed, Madame Gandhi discouraged some partymen who had been infuriated with Prasadji for contesting against our party chief. That was something which he quickly left behind and rejoined the party's national mainstream.

Prasadaji had attended the Congress Working Committee meeting only the day before he was admitted to Apollo Hospital and none of us thought that he would leave all of us so abruptly and so soon.

Many Congress leaders were upset that Prasadji was unnecessarily throwing a challenge to Madame Gandhi when the entire Congress is behind her. But she took the lead in convincing them that his contesting against her only fortified intra-party democracy and it effectively cocked a snook at the BJP and constituents of the Sangh Parivar who had sought to exploit the Congress presidential polls.

My heart goes out to members of the bereaved family and I hope that they will bear the insurmountable loss of the departed soul. The Congress will always remember Prasadji as one of its valiant leaders.

(The Congress spokesperson spoke to Tara Shankar Sahay)

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